In the name of God, the most Gracious, and the most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon Prophet مُحَمَّدُ رَسُوْلُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ his family and his companions.
Managing Director Ms Shiuna Khalid, government officials, ambassadors, travel agents, tour operators, and all our partners from the industry.
Good Morning and;
It is my pleasure to stand before you to be a part of your programme this morning. I would just like to thank, for taking such an initiative and also continuing for the sixth time. I hope everyone is here with us in this programme.
We have gone through a time that we have never expected. Nobody ever thought, nobody ever expected that a pandemic such as Covid-19 would come across in our world.
As you know the Maldives, we are totally dependent on tourism. It is almost a single industry based economy we have here. We saw that the industry partners, I can see some here, we all worked together with the Government, industry leaders to come out of this. I must thank, specially for all those our dear friends, and our partners from the industry for the major role they have played. If not for them surely we would not have made 1.7 million tourists last year.
I believe that with the changing world, the changing environment it is very important, the changing of economies is all around the world and the challenges that we have faced is very important. It is vital that we have discussions. Any changes to the industry that are brought should be discussed with the partners, with the industry leaders. I hope within the next few years that the Government will focus more on such things.
We are a developing tourism from the north to the south, all across the Maldives. And we know that there are challenges. It is not just as easy or as simple as operating a resort with in the Greater Malé or the central area, Addu or Haa Alifu Atoll. There is a huge difference in things. So these are things that we need to discuss further and listen to all those experienced people behind us.
We know that it was a great challenge. It was a brave decision back in 51 years almost. Some nation loving Maldivians came together and just started this. And from the time they started, of course, they have been working with the Government, with the community and that is the success we have today.
So my wish and I hope that in the future it is going to be like that.
Dr Naushad was also mentioning about human resources. We have focused lot on human resources and also training Maldivians for those areas, especially for the tourism executive and middle management jobs. I think this is also something that the industry and the Ministry of Tourism, and higher education, we need to work to, we have done some work with, the Vice Chancellor is here with us from the Maldives National University (MNU) but this has to go further. I think this is something that is never going to end. There is never an end to training people. So I am quite sure that the new Government is going to pay much attention in doing this and providing further opportunities to the locals.
I welcome to Maldives from Nigeria, a beautiful country, and all others joining us here. I would say the success of this tourism, the premier tourism here in this country is a collective effort by everyone, by every family. It is just not one party or one person. It is all the families together with the industry and the Government.
So I must salute to all those who have worked tirelessly, night and day to make the Maldives the leading destination in a row for many years.
Thank you very much, for giving me this opportunity to be a part of you today. And I wish all the best to all your endeavors. I know this is helping us. This is not helping you only. This is helping the whole of the country and all the community.
Thank you very much for visiting us. Please visit more. Send more. We have our targets. Every year we are to increase the numbers.
Thank you and have a blessed day.